Compress PDF
Get a scanned PDF under an upload limit. Pick a resolution, see the saving and a side-by-side preview before you commit. Runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
Your PDF?Pages are rendered and re-encoded on this device. Nothing is uploaded. Password-protected files must be unlocked first.
Best results come from scans and photo-heavy documents.
Text becomes a picture, so this suits scans rather than text PDFs.?Read before compressingEvery page is redrawn as an image, which is why a scan shrinks so much. Real text stops being selectable, searchable or copyable. Fine for a scanned document, wrong for an invoice or report where you would lose something you cannot get back.
Working...
Settings
Lower resolution saves the most.
70%
If the result comes out larger, the original was already well compressed. The tool will tell you rather than pretending otherwise.
Read this first: text becomes a picture.
This tool redraws every page as an image, which is why it can shrink a scan so much. The trade-off is that real text stops being selectable, searchable or copyable. That is fine for a scanned document, which is already pictures. It is the wrong tool for a text PDF such as an invoice or a report, where you would lose something you cannot get back.
What this tool does, plainly
Worth understanding before you use it.
1
It redraws each page
Every page is rendered at the resolution you choose and saved back as a compressed image. That is why the saving can be dramatic on scans.
2
Text stops being text
Because pages become pictures, you can no longer select, search or copy the words. On a scan there was nothing selectable anyway.
3
You see it before you keep it
A before-and-after preview of the first page, and the exact saving, appear before you download anything.
Questions
How do I reduce PDF file size?
Drop the PDF above and pick a resolution. Each page is rendered at that resolution and re-encoded as a compressed image, and the saving is shown before you commit. Dropping from 300 to 150 DPI usually halves the file with no visible change on screen.
How do I reduce PDF file size without losing quality?
For a scanned document, keep the resolution at 200 DPI or higher and lower the JPEG quality instead. For a PDF that is mostly real text rather than scans, this approach is the wrong tool: the text is already stored efficiently, and rasterising it will make the file larger and blurrier.
How do I get a PDF under an upload limit?
Start at 150 DPI and quality 70, check the reported size, then step down until it fits. The preview is side by side with the original so you can see the point where it stops being acceptable.
Why does my text PDF get worse, or even bigger?
A PDF made from a word processor stores text as instructions, which is extremely compact. Turning those crisp letters into a photograph of letters both looks worse and often takes more space. If your PDF has selectable text, this is the wrong tool. Compressing it would trade away searchable text for little or no gain, and the size comparison shown after processing will usually confirm it.
How does this compare with desktop tools?
Honestly, a desktop tool built on Ghostscript will usually do better on mixed documents, because it can shrink the images inside a PDF while leaving the text untouched. That kind of surgery is not practical in a browser today. What this offers instead is a genuinely private option that never uploads your document, which for a bank statement or a medical record may matter more than the last few percent.
Is my document uploaded?
No. Pages are rendered with pdf.js and rebuilt with pdf-lib, both running in this page. Your document never leaves the device, and closing the tab discards everything.
Which settings should I choose?
150 DPI at 70 percent quality is a sensible starting point for a document that will be read on screen or emailed. Drop to 110 DPI if you need to hit a strict limit. Use 200 DPI if it will be printed. Greyscale is worth ticking for any black-and-white scan.
Will it still print properly?
Page sizes are preserved exactly, so the document prints at the right dimensions. Sharpness depends on the resolution you picked, and anything below 150 DPI will look soft on paper even though it reads fine on screen.